Former Super Eagles’ striker and 1997 African Footballer of The Year, Victor Nosa Ikpeba has advised Nigeria’s youth national team’s coach, Aliyu Zubairu to avoid being distracted by agents who want to market his wards to European clubs.
Read Also: Flamingos Qualify for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with 4-0 Aggregate Victory Over Algeria
Sports247 reports that, with Zubairu set to roll the Flying Eagles out at this year’s Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt next week, Ikpeba is quick to add that what the coach and his team need now is support from all Nigerians, not distractions.
He reckoned that Zubairu and his players did a great job in qualifying for the championship from the WAFU B eliminations in Cote d’Ivoire and expressed confidence that they can pick a ticket to the FIFA U20 World Cup by reaching the semi-finals, but quickly added that they need massive backing by all Nigerians.
Ikpeba stressed, “All Nigerians have to support our boys. Nigerians should take pride in supporting their national teams … under 20, under-17, male or female.
“The boys did well in qualifying from Cote d’Ivoire, where they had a very tough competition. They had to put in a lot of fighting spirit to grab results. If they go out now with the same fighting spirit, we should do the job in Egypt.”
Ikpeba, who played for AS Monaco of France and Borussia Dortmund of Germany at the height of his career, continued with words of advice, as he charged the under-20 side to take each match one at a time and avoid thinking too far ahead from the beginning.
“It’s not a calculation now of whether we are going to win the competition. The first calculation for now is to qualify for the semi-final. Once they qualify for the semi-finals, anything can happen.”
He concluded by reminding Zubairu that all blame for a poor outing would be on his head, hence the need for the tactician to put his feet down and avoid distractions that people with personal interests in the team might bring.
“At the end of the day, the decision lies on the coach and his assistants. He should know what to do, and his decision matters most. He should be careful, because people will come with their interests and put pressure on him.
Those are the things we see in football. Agents’ wahala right, left and everywhere. So, he just has to be smart,” Ikpeba counselled.
Sports247 gathered that Zubairu’s team will play their fiest match this Thursday against Tunisia, after which they face Morocco on Sunday and then end group play on May 7th versus Kenya.
